


Okotian Observation

by NoCashValue5



Category: Bionicle - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Worldbuilding, i'm honestly not even sure how to tag this one, old fic newly posted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28504530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoCashValue5/pseuds/NoCashValue5
Summary: An Okotian watches two Toa fight monsters, wondering why the Toa even need to be here.
Kudos: 1





	Okotian Observation

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted to the TTV Message Boards (https://ttvchannel.com/) in 2015 as part of their first anniversary contest. The theme was worldbuilding, and this story won the literature category. My prize was a custom title on the forums, and I chose Toa of Tales, which still makes me happy to this day. I barely even think about TTV anymore, but I enjoyed my time there!
> 
> Anyway, I just recently realized I could post this fic to Ao3, so here we are! I think it still holds up, considering I haven't touched it in five years. I did polish it up in one or two spots before posting, but I definitely wanted to preserve the original version.

Word came that Pohatu and Kopaka were defending my village.

I had the time to sit and watch the Toa fight. I really wasn't supposed to be here, but someone had to see what happened. 

The sun would rise soon. When the village goes to morning ceremonies, they will notice my absence and worry. Some might even guess where I am, out here watching. I would be in trouble when I got back, but I had to see this. See how good these Toa warriors actually are.

Kopaka shrank back, his shield clashing angrily against the blade of the skull creature. I didn't have names for them. They all looked the same to me. All bony and thin.

Pohatu was hurled close to me. I watched as a lanky red beast hunched over him, foot on his chest. But the Toa was no weakling and beat at the monster with his fists. Soon they were back in the fray.

I didn't really know what the Toa and skull creatures were all about. I knew they had to do with legendary masks and Ekimu and Makuta and other things that the legends say. Sometimes I wish I’d payed more attention in my lessons. But most of the time I just sit and try to figure out the Toa. They don't seem right to me.

The sun peeked over the horizon. Morning ceremonies would be starting now. I knew people had already gathered and found me missing and worried. I found myself daydreaming the words the priest said as she blessed the people. The blessing of Light. The blessing of Day.

For a moment, I stepped back into the place that had been Okoto before these Toa came. Before anything was threatening our island. When things were happy.

I would wake in the morning and attend ceremonies at dawn. The sweet scent of candy grass would rush over me during the spring mornings. I remember being so anxious to get at the gummy treat, I'd start tittering to a friend about it. Then an adult would make us look forward and pay attention. Finally the priest would blow clouds of sparkling pollen over our heads, say a final prayer, and then we were set loose on the sweet grass.

Around midday, the market square would open, and vendors from all across Okoto would set up their booths. I lived in a small village on the desert coast, but people from every area of the island passed through. Weavers from the eastern islets bore their craft, which more often than not portrayed their love of the sea. Mountain climbers from the lava fields and the muddy foothills showed sparkling displays of gems and rocks (quite popular in the desert). Some of them claimed to have survived the high peaks in the very center of Okoto, where rumor told of an ancient city that had thrived on the trade of incredible mountain treasures.

Less often, a herder from the northern tundra would drive down a herd of nwarr or stae, beasts of burden that ran wild in the tundra and desert. Occasionally they would bring a curious animal intended to be a pet, but their business excelled elsewhere.

As a young child, I usually went to the market to get trinkets to play with or candy sweeter than nature could grow. Friendly jungle tribesfolk were typically our toy suppliers, with palm-sized figures carved from wood and painted, or tickets made from a hardy type of leaf. These tickets, we were obsessed with them. They were simple, not much more than a cut leaf with writing and pictures on it. But we collected them and traded them and bragged about our collections. Some genius down south had made a fortune off us desert kids.

Eventually the market would close, and at dusk we would gather again for evening ceremonies. These were shorter, more of an extended good-night. We were blessed with star wings (pedals from a white night-blooming flower) and sent to rest. I slept on the floor on a mat, as most young children would in my village. Now I sleep in a hammock, a sign of my age.

Those days were good. They were a sweet, curled-up memory inside my head of the days when things made sense. When I was happy, truly happy.

Pohatu's boomerang smashed into the rock I was hiding behind. Startled out of my daydream, I peeked around and watched as the scuffle came to a close. The duo of skull creatures fled. Pohatu seemed to want to give chase, hopping on his jeterangs, but Kopaka was satisfied. I figured he was eager to get out of the heat. Soon I was alone, with just the village in the distance, under a blanket of heat.

Now with the skull creatures, evening ceremonies were no more, for fear of attack.

Now with the skull creatures, fewer traders come through the village, for fear of attack.

Now with the skull creatures, we are afraid of being attacked.

So instead of learning to defend ourselves, the Protectors prayed and the Toa came. Now everyone thinks the Toa are destined to do all the fighting and we're defenseless. “It's suicide now to leave the village,” they say. “We should leave the fighting to the Toa.”

That's why nobody knows about the skull spider I killed.

**Author's Note:**

> Original post:
> 
> https://board.ttvchannel.com/t/okotian-observation-1st-anniversary-contest-entry/10604


End file.
